So Google and Verizon have decided that there are going to be two Internets. As one wag puts it, the Internet and the Schminternet. The Internet will be unregulated, as it now is, and include anything old. The Schminternet, where ISPs can do whatever they want, will be anything new or on a cell phone. What a bargain! It’s like if the school bully said he’d only beat people up who came to school again.
As Craig Aaron writes at Huffington Post:
The proposal is one massive loophole that sets the stage for the corporate takeover of the Internet.
Real Net Neutrality means that Internet service providers can’t discriminate between different kinds of online content and applications. It guarantees a level playing field for all Web sites and Internet technologies. It’s what makes sure the next Google, out there in a garage somewhere, has just as good a chance as any giant corporate behemoth to find its audience and thrive online.
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1. Under their proposal, there would be no Net Neutrality on wireless networks — meaning anything goes, from blocking websites and applications to pay-for-priority treatment.
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4. The deal would allow ISPs to effectively split the Internet into “two pipes” — one of which would be reserved for “managed services,” a pay-for-play platform for content and applications. This is the proverbial toll road on the information superhighway, a fast lane reserved for the select few, while the rest of us are stuck on the cyber-equivalent of a winding dirt road.
Etc., etc.
If you’d like to fight back in a minor way, well, I’ve finally found a great, privacy-oriented replacement for Google. Check out Startpage. Here’s how to add it to your browser.
Now if only Verizon didn’t have a monopoly on my phone service (land line only, thank you very much).
